Image Production Apparatus, Image Display Apparatus, Image Display Method and Optical Modulation Device Adjustment Apparatus

1. An image display method for scanning modulated lights emitted from a plurality of optical modulation devices, each of which includes a plurality of fixed electrodes and a plurality of displaceable electrodes positioned adjacent said fixed electrodes and individually displaced or deformed in response to a driving signal applied thereto to form offsets from said fixed electrodes so that illumination light from a light source incoming to one of faces of said fixed and displaceable electrodes is modulated in accordance with the offsets such that the modulated lights from said optical modulation devices are arrayed linearly to form a one-dimensional image, on a plane to display a two-dimensional image, comprising: a driving signal correction step of determining, before an image is displayed, from a target light intensity of the modulated lights emitted from said optical modulation devices in response to an initial driving signal produced from an input signal and intensities of the modulated lights emitted from said optical modulation devices in response to the driving signals, values of the driving signals for said optical modulation devices corresponding to the target light intensity; and a step of applying, when an image is to be displayed, the driving signals of the determined values to said optical modulation devices to drive said optical modulation elements.

2. An image display method according to claim 1 , wherein the driving signal correction step includes: a first step of measuring the modulated lights from said optical modulation devices to determined modulation characteristics of said optical modulation devices; and a second step of determining, from the determined modulation characteristic of each of said optical modulation devices, the value of the driving signal for the optical modulation device corresponding to the target light intensity emitted in response to the initial driving signal.

3. An image display method according to claim 1 , wherein said light source includes single-color light sources for red, green and blue, and said optical modulation devices include a first optical modulation element array, a second optical modulation element array and a third optical modulation element array which individually include a plurality of optical modulation elements for modulating single-color illumination lights emitted from said red, green and blue single-color light sources.

4. An image display method according to claim 2 , wherein the first step includes a step of modulating the single-color illumination lights illuminated from said single-color light sources and determining the modulation characteristics of said optical modulation devices in a plurality of optical modulation element arrays in each of which a plurality of optical modulation elements are arrayed, and the second step includes a step of determining, from the determined modulation characteristics of said optical modulation devices for the individual colors, the values of the driving signals corresponding to the target light intensities for the modulated lights emitted from the optical modulation elements which form said optical modulation element arrays, in response to the initial driving signal.

5. An image display method according to claim 4 , wherein the second step includes a step of determining the target modulation characteristics for the optical modulation elements, which form said optical modulation element arrays, to set the target light intensities.

6. An image display method according to claim 4 , wherein, at the first step, said single-color light sources illuminate the single-color illumination lights simultaneously on the optical modulation elements which form said optical modulation element arrays, and the modulation characteristics of the optical modulation elements which form said optical modulation element arrays are determined, and at the second step, an illumination profile for each color representative of a relationship between the light intensities of the modulated lights emitted from the optical modulation elements which form said optical modulation element arrays and the positions of the optical modulation elements is determined from the determined modulation characteristics of the optical modulation elements.

7. An image display method according to claim 6 , wherein the first step includes a step of producing a first test signal whose voltage value varies within a first range and applying the first test signal to said optical modulation devices, and a step of measuring the intensities of the modulated lights from said optical modulation devices in response to the voltage value of the first test signal.

8. An image display method according to claim 6 , wherein the second step includes a step of determining target modulation characteristics for the optical modulation elements of said optical modulation element arrays from the illumination profiles for the individual colors.

9. An image display method according to claim 8 , wherein the second step includes the steps of: determining a luminance distribution of white which can be realized by said red, green and blue single-color light sources from the illumination profiles of the individual colors; determining a minimum value of the white luminance distributions of the optical modulation element arrays as a target maximum luminance of the white to be realized by said optical modulation elements which form said optical modulation element arrays; and determining the target modulation characteristics of said optical modulation devices from a predetermined modulation characteristic function and the target maximum luminance of the white.

10. An image display method according to claim 8 , wherein the second step includes the steps of: dividing the optical modulation elements which form each of said optical modulation element arrays into a plurality of groups depending upon positions of said optical modulation elements; and individually determining the target modulation characteristics of the optical modulation elements of the groups from the illumination profiles for the individual colors.

11. An image display method according to claim 10 , wherein the second step includes the steps of: determining a luminance distribution of white which can be realized by said red, green and blue single-color light sources from the illumination profiles of the individual colors; and determining a minimum value of the white luminance distributions of the optical modulation elements of the groups as a target maximum luminance of the white of the optical modulation elements and determining the target modulation characteristics of the optical modulation elements of each of the optical modulation element groups from a predetermined modulation characteristic function and the target maximum luminance of the white.

12. An image display method according to claim 4 , wherein the first step includes a third step of illuminating, before an image is displayed, for each of said optical modulation devices, the single-color illumination lights from said single-color light sources upon the optical modulation elements which form the optical modulation element array and measuring the modulated lights emitted from said optical modulation elements to determine the modulation characteristics of the optical modulation elements.

13. An image display method according to claim 12 , wherein the third step includes the steps of: applying a first test signal whose voltage value varies within a first variation range to said optical modulation devices; and measuring the intensities of the modulated lights emitted from said optical modulation devices in response to the voltage value of the first test signal to determine the modulation characteristics of said optical modulation devices.

14. An image display method according to claim 4 , wherein the first step includes a fourth step of illuminating, when an image is to be displayed, the illumination lights from said single-color light sources for each of said optical modulation element arrays simultaneously upon the optical modulation elements which form the optical modulation element array to determine illumination profiles of the optical modulation elements.

15. An image display method according to claim 14 , wherein the fourth step includes the steps producing a second test signal whose voltage value varies within a second variation range and applying the second test signal to said optical modulation devices; and measuring the amounts of the modulated lights emitted from said optical modulation devices in response to the voltage value of the second test signal and determining illumination profiles for the individual colors.

16. An image display method according to claim 6 , wherein the second step includes a step of determining target modulation characteristics for the optical modulation elements of said optical modulation element arrays from the modulation characteristics of said optical modulation devices and the illumination profiles for the individual colors.

17. An image display method according to claim 16 , wherein the second step includes the steps of: determining a luminance distribution of white which can be realized by said red, green and blue single-color light sources from the modulation characteristics of said optical modulation devices and the illumination profiles of the individual colors; determining a minimum value of white luminance distributions of the optical modulation element arrays as a target maximum luminance of the white to be realized by said optical modulation elements which form said optical modulation element arrays; and determining the target modulation characteristics of said optical modulation devices from a predetermined modulation characteristic function and the target maximum luminance of the white.

18. An image display method according to claim 16 , wherein the second step includes the steps of: dividing the optical modulation elements of each of said optical modulation element arrays into a plurality of groups depending upon positions of said optical modulation elements; and individually determining the target modulation characteristics of the optical modulation elements of the groups from the modulation characteristics of said optical modulation devices and the illumination profiles for the individual colors.

19. An image display method according to claim 18 , wherein the second step includes the steps of: determining a luminance distribution of white which can be realized by said red, green and blue single-color light sources from the modulation characteristics of said optical modulation devices and the illumination profiles of the individual colors; and determining a minimum value of the white luminance distributions of the optical modulation elements of the groups as a target maximum luminance of white to be realized by the optical modulation elements and determining the target modulation characteristics of the optical modulation elements of each of the optical modulation element groups using a predetermined modulation characteristic function and the target maximum luminance of the white.